The Lord Is Faithful

Have you ever read a book that challenged you so deeply?

I feel every time I sit down to read a missionary's biography, I'm in for a healthy reality check.

While we were having some uncannily nice weather for April, I would go outside on my lunch breaks, set up my hammock and read "The Autobiography of George Müller".

The book reads like a journal with dated entries interspersed with commentary. He prayed for his daily bread. Literally. He never asked people for money and taking a loan and going into a debt was never an option for him. He prayed and asked the LORD to provide through his people. And He did. Sometimes it was down to the wire (within minutes of needing it), but the LORD always provided what was needed right when it was needed. As I was reading entry after entry that fell into a pattern of "we needed money for our needs and prayed" then "the LORD provided through such and such a means", over and over again and I began to feel anxious and frustrated. Why wouldn't he provide everything they needed for the week, month, year? It seems like a waste of time to be in a state of worryful prayer about the same need when God could just take care of it. I began to feel discouraged because my faith was so small. Could I even attempt to live out this "grace of faith" as Müller calls it? As I continued reading, I found where Muller voiced some of my anxious thoughts:

"Many people have commented that such a way of living must cause the mind to continually think of how to obtain food and clothes, and thus become unfit for spiritual work. I answer that our minds are seldom concerned about the necessities of life because the care for them is laid upon our Father. Because we are His children, He not only allows us to do so but wants us to do so." Page 130

This thought came to me: the opposite of faith is not doubt, it's control.

"For we walk by faith, not by sight. " 2 Corinthians 5:7

I think that's why Jesus taught his disciples to pray "give us this day our daily bread" because he wants us to reach out to Him everyday. Just like when Sarah tried the manifest the promise by having Abraham sleep with Hagar to produce an heir (Genesis 16). That wasn't God's way, that was mankind deviating from God's plan and trying to create their own solution. How often in my life do I look to create my own solution to problems without inviting God into it?

PERSONAL TESTIMONY

As I've been reading this book, it's been challenging me to focus more on prayer.

I am deeply aware of my own helplessness and dependence on the Lord. Through the grace of God, my soul is in peace, although day after day, we have to wait on the Lord for our daily bread. Page 163.

After reading some, I paused and just began to pray an honest prayer asking the Lord to prompt people to give who desire to build His kingdom.

"Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit." Zechariah 4:6

And wouldn't you know it, when I went to check my inbox I saw an email that said someone gave! I was so encouraged, I posted on Facebook about it to testify that, "This is God at work. He'll do it in his time and his way. Praise God with me as he still is a God who answers prayers and delights in them!" And then someone saw that post and remembered that they had been wanting to give and gave! As I pondered these things in my heart, I received a phone call from someone that said the Holy Spirit told them to give! God was making it abundantly CLEAR that He was at work. God is good! His way and His timing are perfect even when it doesn't always seem like it.

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9

PRAYER REQUESTS

• That my faith would grow as I learn to trust the Lord more and more.

• That I would finish this season well before launching to the mission field.

• That the Lord would continue to prompt people to give who desire to build His kingdom.